One Step
by Invisionary
Summary: It's not what she thought she'd be doing, but it's worthwhile. Faith & Giles genfic.


Title: One Step  
Characters/Pairing: Faith&Giles, gen  
Setting: Future, post-"Chosen"  
Warnings: None  
Word Count: 2,570  
Summary: It's not what she thought she'd be doing, but it's worthwhile.  
Disclaimer: All characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to Mutant Enemy productions, which I am not in any way affiliated with.

**One Step**

Faith grinned as she was slammed into the training mat.

"Good," she said, looking up at the slim blonde girl who'd just knocked her down. The girl smiled, and after taking a second to catch her breath, she extended a hand to Faith. She took it and allowed her sparring partner to help her to her feet.

"Great job, Kat," Faith said. "You're a natural at this."

Katherine's brow furrowed as they walked over to the benches along the wall of the Council's gym. A few other Slayers were working out or sparring on the other mats around them, and Katherine took a moment to look around at them before turning back to Faith. "You really think so?" she asked.

"You know it," Faith replied. She picked up a couple of hand towels from the bench, handing one to Katherine and using the other to wipe the sweat from her face. As Katherine did likewise, Faith continued, "You knocked me down half a dozen times just now."

Katherine chuckled as she sat down. "Well, you knocked me down a hell of a lot more than that."

"Yeah, but I been doin' this for years," Faith said, sitting down next to her. "You've only been at it a few months."

Katherine blushed a little, but accepted the praise nonetheless. "Well, I guess I just have a good teacher," she said.

_Teacher?_ "Oh, I don't know about that," Faith replied, a little uncomfortably. "I mean, I'm happy to show you the ropes, help you out a little bit, but I wouldn't call myself a teacher or nothin'."

"Come on, Faith, I..." Katherine began, but she trailed off as she caught sight of Giles stepping through the doors to the gym. He looked around briefly before seeing them and, with a friendly nod to the other Slayers as he passed them, walked over to the bench where they were sitting.

Faith and Katherine both stood as he approached. "Hello, Mr. Giles," Katherine said in greeting.

"Hello Katherine, Faith," Giles replied, smiling.

"Hey, Giles," Faith said. "I see by your outfit you're not here for a workout," she continued, noting that he had on his typical tweed jacket and slacks. Of course, that was hardly a surprise, since she hadn't seen him in anything else since they'd settled in London. "What's up?"

"I need to have a word with you, Faith," he said. "If you're not busy."

"No problem," Faith said, glancing at Katherine. "I think we were just about done anyway."

"Yeah," Katherine agreed with a grin. "I think I've had enough of getting knocked around for a while. I'll see you later."

"Later," Faith said, chuckling, as Katherine turned and headed for the door. Then she turned her attention back to Giles. "What's up?" she asked, leaning casually against the wall and watching him.

"Are you free for a couple of hours?" Giles asked.

Faith thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think so," she replied. "I've got some time before I've got to get the patrols ready. What do you need?"

"I was wondering if you could accompany me to one of the cemeteries."

Faith frowned. "Is this somethin' we need to saddle up for? I can get some of the girls together..."

Giles quickly shook his head. "No. Nothing like that. I just came across an obscure reference in one of the old Watcher's diaries, and I need to check the place for mystical energies."

"Which one is it?" Faith asked.

"Bunhill Fields."

She chuckled. "You sure you even need me?" Of all the cemeteries in and around London, that was one of the quietest. In fact, Faith couldn't remember ever hearing about vampires there.

"Perhaps not," Giles replied, smiling. "Nonetheless, I would like you to come with me, if you can spare the time."

She shrugged. It wasn't like she had anything to do here. "Sure. No problem. Just let me grab a quick shower and we can go."

* * *

By the time they reached the cemetery, it was already closed for the day. Undeterred, Giles produced a key from his pocket and unlocked the gates. He'd managed to get keys to many of the cemeteries from a contact in the city government; in their line of work, you never knew when they'd be needed.

They stepped through and onto the stone path ahead, and Giles turned and closed the gate behind them. After a brief look around, Giles proceeded down the path slowly. It was a clear night, and there was a half-moon out, so there was plenty of light to see by.

As Faith fell in step beside Giles, she wondered why he'd asked her to come with him. They'd never gone out for a job like this before - whenever they had occasion to work together, it was usually for something big that involved lots of other Slayers and Watchers. Something like this was definitely a first.

She wasn't suspicious, exactly - after all, Giles had done a lot for her. He'd accepted her and helped make her feel welcome at the new Watcher's Council. Ever since Buffy had taken off for Rome, she'd taken over the job of working with the new Slayers that came in from all around the world, and Giles hadn't shown any problem giving her whatever she needed to make that job easier. He listened to her suggestions and valued her opinions and her advice. He seemed to trust her, so Faith figured that the least she could do was try her best to return the sentiment.

Hell, he'd even been responsible for getting her into therapy, though the decision to go had been her own. But he'd set up everything with the shrink - Dr. Cynthia Weller, a consultant the Council had used in the past. She knew enough about the world that Slayers lived and worked in that Faith didn't have to watch what she said around her.

She'd only started a few weeks ago, and she still wasn't sure how much help therapy was actually going to be. But she knew she had to give it a shot, though she also knew it'd take time - there were still plenty of things in her past that she didn't even like to _think_ about, let alone talk about.

Still, all she could do was do her best to stick it out. How much it was really going to do for her was a concern for another time.

"Have you ever been here before?" Giles asked after a moment.

Faith shook her head. "No. I've passed by a few times, but that's it." She shrugged. "Never had any reason to come here. Like I said, this place is quiet."

She tucked her hands in the pockets of her jacket and glanced at Giles briefly. "Why do you suppose that is?" she asked.

Giles considered the question. "Well, this place has been closed for burials for quite some time," he said at length. "So obviously there wouldn't be any new risings here. As to why other vampires avoid it, I... I'm not sure. It is one of the oldest burial grounds in London. Perhaps they feel the weight of history around them."

Faith took a moment to look at her surroundings - really look, and not just glance around trying to spot anything that might be lurking in the shadows. The place was very well-kept. Part of the cemetery - the part they were walking through right now - had been given over to a park, and there were large, old trees all around them. Some were oaks, she knew that for sure, and there were a few other types she didn't know.

There was something less tangible, too. There was a sense of calm about the place. She didn't pick up the vague feeling of menace here that she often felt in other graveyards.

"It's nice here," she said. "I mean, as places like this go. It's... peaceful."

Giles nodded. "Yes, it does have that quality about it, doesn't it? One could only wish that more cemeteries were like this one - but of course, we know better," he finished wryly, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, no kidding," Faith said with a chuckle. As they passed from the park to the area where the graves were located, she turned to Giles and asked, "By the way, how do we find out if there's any mystical mojo here?"

Taking a small crystal from his pocket, Giles turned his hand, palm upward, and showed it to her. "You remember the coven in Devon we work with on occasion?" She nodded in answer, and he continued. "They provided this crystal. It glows whenever it passes through an area containing residual mystical energies. It's not detecting anything here, but we should make a sweep of the whole cemetery just to be certain."

Faith shrugged. "Sure thing," she said. They continued down the path, walking slowly, and Faith took the opportunity to take a look at the grave markers to either side of them. They were _old_; even she could tell that. She found herself idly wondering what London had been like back when they were first made.

She was drawn out of her musings by the sound of Giles clearing his throat, and she looked at him curiously. "Faith, I..." he began, turning and meeting her eyes, "I asked you to come with me because we haven't had a chance to talk much recently. We've discussed business, certainly, but... I'd like to know how you're doing. How are you finding things at the new Council?"

"It's fine," she replied. Giles seemed slightly taken aback at her dismissive answer, and she suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. "I mean, what do you want me to say?" she continued. "It's not like I got a very hard job. I work with new Slayers and show 'em what's what. Not too complicated."

For a moment it seemed like Giles wanted to say more, but he accepted her answer with a nod. "Well, be that as it may, I'd still like to thank you. Your help has been invaluable since Buffy left for Rome last year, especially since Willow and Xander are also away."

He paused briefly, staring at the path ahead. "In case you hadn't noticed, a great many of the new Slayers are... uncomfortable around me," he continued. "Having someone with experience who can relate to them makes things much easier for them, I think."

"Well, I don't get along with everyone," Faith said. There were a few shouting matches in the past that stood as evidence of that. Still, she supposed that Giles was right, in a way - she could relate to a lot of these girls. Or at least, to the basic situation they were in. But even so...

"You asked me what I think about I'm doin' these days," she said abruptly as they followed a curve in the path. "The answer is, I don't know. Not really."

That was the truth. Faith had had a hard enough time back when she and Buffy were the only Slayers. It had taken her a long time to get everything straight in her head, and just when she'd finally felt like she could deal with who and what she was, suddenly there were a whole bunch more Slayers and everything had changed again. Now she was playing house mother to a bunch of newbie Slayers. It was about as far as she could get from anything she ever thought she'd end up doing.

Giles frowned slightly, seemingly sensing her discomfort. They walked together in silence for a moment, completing their pass through the other end of the graveyard and heading back for the park. They were halfway back to the gate they'd come in through before Giles spoke.

"Let me ask you this, Faith," he said. "Why did you agree to help us rebuild the Watcher's Council?"

It was a good question, and Faith thought about it for a moment before replying. There was a reason she'd decided to work with the new Council, a reason she hadn't just taken off after Sunnydale. She could give him some crap about gratitude, about second chances, but she figured she owed him an honest answer.

"Look, Giles," she began slowly, "I don't give a damn about the Council. No offense or anything, I mean most of the people you got working for you seem to be decent enough, but what I care about is these girls we got comin' in.

"I remember what it was like, you know? Just after I was Called. I was confused, and scared as hell. So I figure, anything I can do to make things easier for these girls, anything I can do to get 'em ready for what they're gonna face, is worth doin'. You know as well as I do that if we just left these girls out there with no training, they wouldn't last very long."

Giles considered her answer for a moment. "So you wanted to help the new Slayers? Give them the benefit of your experience and show them what they need to know to survive?"

Faith nodded. "Yeah. Pretty much."

Giles stopped, turning to look at her, and Faith stopped alongside him. The trees they'd been passing under blocked some of the moonlight, but she could still make out the serious expression on his face as he tucked the crystal back in his pocket and met her eyes. "What nobler calling does one need?" he asked. "Faith, you don't have to be killing demons every night, or stopping apocalypses on a regular basis to make a difference in the world. I think you know that what we're doing now - what _you're_ doing - matters."

And there it was. She supposed she'd always known it, deep down - after all, why else would she have been so eager to help out? These girls, these new Slayers, they needed someone who knew what it was like for them. Watchers, even if they were like Giles and had good intentions, couldn't ever really know what it was like to have the kind of power that Slayers had.

And it wasn't just that a Slayer's life was constantly in danger, though that was bad enough. Faith knew firsthand just how easy it was to get swept up in the power they had, how easy it was to lose yourself. She couldn't go back and change what she'd done, but maybe she could stop anyone else from heading down that road.

Or maybe not. But all she could do was try.

Giles didn't wait for her to reply, which was good because Faith still wasn't quite sure what to say. "At any rate," he said, "just let me say again that if there's anything I can do to help, anything that would make thing easier for you and the rest of the Slayers, please don't hesitate to ask." He smiled briefly, then turned and continued down the path.

Faith stepped quickly after him. "Yeah, about that..." she said as they passed into the park once more, heading for the gate back to the street.

"Yes?"

"Remember my idea about the in-house movie theater?"

"Faith, as I said, while there are certain expenditures I can authorize, this is completely..."

"Come on! It'd be good for morale..."

END 


End file.
